another kind of islander

here i am
young white female.
privileged, you may say
(and you’d probably be right)
living in a little corner of the south pacific
that’s not really the pacific at all

and yet

despite your
white girl
pakeha
european
rhapsodising

this is my home

my corner of the south pacific
though first world
gentrified
colonised
feel free to elaborate
has the largest
polynesian population
of any city in the world

and we too are part of polynesia

white skin?

sure.

but my existence
owes itself
to the islands

what a story
parents meet on a tropical island
raise blonde-ringleted children
who know a lavalava from a pareu
who played dress ups in both
and in pupu necklaces
and always knew how to pronounce
their maori vowels

and here i am
intoxicated by frangipani and hibiscus
wishing i had my own tivaevae
to wrap myself in
and dream of other places
that share our great sea

recently written

the low-down

I'm Briar – Briar Lawry, if you were wondering which particular one. Raw Library is an anagram of my name and a place for my writing – about anything, in theory, but mostly about books, the music industry and chronic illness. And sometimes coffee.